Ebadi told Radio Farda that police used force to prevent the families of some political prisoners gathered in front of the UN office from meeting with Arbour. They had brought letters in which they described the conditions in which their relatives are being held.

Ebadi said she informed Arbour about their demands.

"I gave her the name of the people who wanted to meet her and I informed her about the problems of the families who wanted to meet her," she said. "I also gave her their letters."

Arbour reportedly also met with some of the members of a women's rights campaign that aims to gather 1 million signatures against laws in Iran that they say are discriminatory.

Arbour has traveled to Iran to attend a Non-Aligned Movement conference on human rights and cultural diversity.

Women In Iran

Women In Iran

Women in Tehran (epa file photo)

CALLING FOR MORE RIGHTS: Although women played key roles in Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, the place of women in post-revolutionary society has been a vexing question. Iranian women have struggled to bring attention to their calls for greater rights in their country's rigid theocratic system, calls that have often clashed with the values proclaimed by conservatives in society. (more)